Poliovirus, one of the human picornaviruses, has been extensively studied because it is the causative agent for serious human disease. Because of these studies, it is known that the virion of poliovirus consists of a small icosahedron, 25-30 nm in diameter, composed entirely of four polypeptides, which are designated VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4. A single strand of infectious positive-stranded RNA of molecular weight 2.7.times.10.sup.6 daltons is enclosed within this protein coat. This size is equivalent to approximately 7500 bases, which can code for about 2500 amino acids.
Despite the extensive studies made of poliovirus, there still remain many problems with the current techniques available for the study, detection and production of this virus, as well as with the techniques used to produce antibodies against poliovirus. For example, the need for improvements in techniques for detection can be seen when it is recognized that poliovirus RNA cannot be practically employed in the detection of poliovirus. This is because poliovirus RNA is in short supply, is unstable, and does not normally bind to other poliovirus RNA.
To date, the major assay for detecting the presence of poliovirus is a biological technique in which samples are analyzed by a plaque assay employing human cell lines to detect the presence of virus. See Dulbecco, R. and Vogt, M., J. Exptl. Med. 99, 167 (1954). This procedure is relatively time consuming and expensive.
Other RNA viruses, many of which have not been as extensively studied as poliovirus, present analogous or even worse problems than poliovirus, in their study, detection, production or use in preparing vaccines or antibodies.